The present invention relates generally to an attachment for decorative wheel trim members to motor vehicle wheels and more particularly to a wheel trim attachment system which is reverse drawn for improved fit and strength.
It will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that many owners of trucks and recreational vehicles use wheel trim members to improve the cosmetic appearance of their wheels by adding decorative trim rings and the like. The same wheel trim attachment systems are used for heavy trucks. Unfortunately, the Department of Transportation requires that these trim members be removable to allow easy inspection of the axle. Also, many manufacturers require that OEM wheel trim members be attachable to a wheel without removal of the existing lug nuts. It will be further appreciated by those skilled in the art that given the requirements by the Department of Transportation and many motor vehicle manufacturers, that the state of the art wheel trim attachment systems are very bulky and take up much room during shipping thereby greatly increasing the cost of shipping the product.
Past attempts to directly attach wheel trim systems have been fairly successful. Unfortunately, they have not been without flaws. Most lugs are ball seated. The wheel has a curved rim to receive a lug with a curved lower side. This creates an indention between the lug and the seat. Past trim members have a substantially flat surface approaching the lug/seat attachment perpendicularly to the axis of the stud. This creates a sharp edge either rubbing against the lug or trapped with the recess. The edge is further stress by the attachment of the existing lug or the additional lug nut. If the lug nut is attached too tightly, the area around the edge will crack. If it is too loose, the play will cause it to crack. The trim members are usually made of cold rolled metal which can be very brittle. The combination of the sharp point and the cold rolled steel creates the cracking tendency. Further, should the trim member be used under the existing lug nuts, the chance of cracking of the wheel increases. Further, because of safety reasons, the D.O.T. has more rigorously inspected wheels for cracking. Therefore, it is more important than ever to have a trim member which can be removed without removing the existing nuts.
What is needed, then, is a wheel trim attachment system which can be attached to a wheel without removal of the existing lug nuts. This needed system must be inspectable by the Department of Transportation without removing the existing lug nuts. This needed wheel trim attachment system must be shaped so as to prevent cracking. This need wheel trim system must frictionally fit to the existing lug nuts to improve attachment. This needed wheel trim system must have a large swept area to improve the fit and structural integrity of the system. This needed system is presently lacking in the prior art.